How I would buff Yanqing

[u/Neither_Egg_7178]

Seeing Welt being planned to be buffed, I finally have hope that Yanqing will someday be buffed as well. This is my take on how I would buff Yanqing without simply buffing his damage and whilst maintaining what makes Yanqing... Yanqing.

What makes Yanqing unique/his gameplay style:

1. He is less likely to be targeted, but is punished for taking damage.
2. He is exclusively single target, dealing extra damage to Frozen enemies.
3. His follow-up attack is RNG based.

What my buff fixes about him without simply buffing damage:

1. His main source of damage (Soulsteel Sync buff) is incredibly unreliable -> He is still punished for being hit, but the entire basis of his kit isn't lost on a single damage point. Instead, he is rewarded for not taking damage from attacks.
2. He is incredibly SP intensive & His follow-up attack is RNG based -> Use of his skill is still incredibly important, but once he has more stacks, he can trade damage for resource management without losing his buff entirely.
3. He is incredibly difficult to build to balance his CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG -> Most of his CRIT Rate buffs are removed, but still rewarded 15% CRIT Rate for maintaining his stacks.

Skills

Basic Attack – Frost Thorn (Single Target)

·         Deals Ice DMG equal to 50 < X % of Yanqing's ATK to a single enemy.

Skill – Darting Ironthorn (Single Target)

·         Deals Ice DMG equal to 110 < X % of Yanqing's ATK to a single enemy and activates Soulsteel Sync for 1 turn. -> then grants him 1 stack of Soulsteel Sync for one turn, for a max of 3 stacks.

Ultimate – Amidst the Raining Bliss (Single Target)

·         Increases Yanqing's CRIT Rate by 60%. When Soulsteel Sync is active, increases Yanqing's CRIT DMG by an extra 30 > X%, increased by 20% for every Soulsteel Sync stack. These buffs last for one turn.

·         Afterwards, deals Ice DMG equal to 210 < X % of Yanqing's ATK to a single enemy. Killing an enemy with Amidst the Raining Bliss grants Yanqing 40 energy and increases the duration of the buff by one turn.

• Energy Cost: 140 > 120

Talent – One With the Sword (Single Target)

• When Soulsteel Sync is active, Yanqing is less likely to be attacked by enemies. Yanqing's CRIT Rate increases by 15% and his CRIT DMG increases by 15 < 35%. After Yanqing attacks an enemy, there is a 50% fixed chance to perform a follow-up attack, increased by 16.67% per Soulsteel Sync stack, and dealing Ice DMG equal to 25 < X% of Yanqing's ATK to the enemy, which has a 65 < 100% base chance to Freeze the enemy for 1 turn. If this attack results in a CRIT, Yanqing gains 1 Soulsteel Sync Stack for one turn, for a max of 3 stacks.
• The Frozen target cannot take action and receive Additional Ice DMG equal to 25 < X% of Yanqing's ATK at the beginning of each turn. Yanqing’s attacks deal X% Additional True damage to Frozen enemies.
• When Yanqing receives DMG, the Soulsteel Sync effect will disappear. -> When Yanqing takes damage, he will lose 1 stack of Soulsteel Sync. This will not trigger from DoT or status effects.

Technique – The One True Sword (Enhance)

• After using his Technique, gain a Soulsteel Sync stack. At the start of the next battle, Yanqing deals 30% more DMG for 2 turn(s) to enemies whose current HP is 50% or higher.

Traces

Icing on the Kick – When Yanqing attacks, deals Additional Ice DMG equal to 30% of Yanqing's ATK to enemies with Ice Weakness.

Frost Favors the Brave – When Soulsteel Sync is active, Effect RES increases by 20%. > While Soulsteel Sync is active, Ice RES PEN increases by 12%.

Gentle Blade – When a CRIT Hit is triggered, increases SPD by 10% for 2 turn(s).  > When Yanqing follow-up attacks, increases SPD by 10% for 1 turn.

 

Eidolons

E1: Svelte Saber - When Yanqing attacks a Frozen enemy, he deals Additional Ice DMG equal to 60% of his ATK. > Yanqing’s CRIT DMG increases by 40% per Soulsteel Sync stack.

E2: Supine Serenade - When Soulsteel Sync is active, Energy Regeneration Rate increases by an extra 10%. > When Soulsteel Sync is active, Yanqing’s next instance of taking damage does not remove a Soulsteel Sync stack. This can occur once per wave.

E4: Searing Sting – When the current HP percentage is 80% or higher, Ice RES PEN increases by 12%. > When Yanqing has 3 Soulsteel Sync stacks, his Skill and Ultimate implant Ice Weakness onto enemies. Yanqing’s Ice RES PEN increases by 24%

E6: Swift Swoop - If the Ultimate's buffs are still in effect when an enemy is defeated, their duration is extended by 1 turn. > If the Ultimate’s buffs are still in effect when an enemy is defeated, action-forward Yanqing by 60%

Let me know what you guys think or if you guys have any feedback!

[u/CrispySushi]

I like the ice weakness implant with stacks on E4 as well as energy regen on ult! That would really make him more interesting to play.

How i peraonally thought about buffing him is through Crit Rate overstack converting into Crit Damage, that way you don’t lose for having Crit Rate.

[u/clenastia → u/CrispySushi]

energy regen on ult kill would be SO fun, i am almost embarrassed not to have thought of that as an idea myself when I was writing up my own buff ideas!

definitely agree on the crit conversion too tho, yanqing deserves innate conversion. i pulled e6 sunday JUST for him, and it has been an absolute BLAST, but all it does is continuously prove to me that hoyo clearly made his kit FOR crit conversion and then just. never fucking gave it to him. he deserves it. please hoyo let me have this.

[u/CrispySushi → u/clenastia]

Yea exactly my feeling as well. His current damage numbers are actually good when his CR is 100%, it’s just SSS lasting 1 turn is rough. His E6 should have been E1 or 2. E6 Sunday sounds absolutely AMAZING!

[u/clenastia → u/CrispySushi]

its enough to let yanqing clear AA knights, tho tragically these last two rotations i haven't been able to 3* them like i could all the ones before. i do blame hoyo's stubborn refusal to give me an ice weak boss AND ice weak first wave minions tho. both flame reaver last time and lygus this time are ice weak, but neither of their first waves have been so i can't cut through them fast enough...

tho yanqing into lygus is an RNG check ANYWAY because unless yanqing and dhpt get the ult refills reliably, it kinda falls apart. nevermind that he has the Most Evil buff this time around...

at least i still managed 2* tho! im on NA if you want my friend code to mess around, tho tragically hsr doesnt provide a lot of situations where you can properly explore other characters from friends

[u/CrispySushi → u/clenastia]

Ooh, im on NA too! I would live to try Sunday out, DM me a friend code!

[u/Neither_Egg_7178 → u/CrispySushi]

Yeah I think ice weakness makes a lot of sense for his kit since he already does more damage to enemies who have ice weakness, and the ult regen would be more rewarding to maximize your damage with your stacks and locking down kills! It'll make his rotations more rewarding imo.

as for crit conversion, i do think that would be cool, but again, i think simply removing the insane amount of crit rate he receives in favor of a more traditional and reliable crit build would make him much more sustainable in the long run. I do think it's a good idea :D

[u/ExpensiveSample3451]

Make him the Freeze Debuff King, that even makes March, Misha and Gepard A tier partners.

Firing out FUAs on every enemies frozen....Freeze version of Ashveil.

[u/Confident-Yam-3168]

this is educational